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 POLAND - 2009(by Polish Brokers Association)INSURANCE INTERMEDIARY SERVICES IN POLAND
524 European Insurers are conducting business activity in Poland within the framework of FOS. Polish Brokers Association (member of BIPAR from 1992 - AGM Oporto) The Association was founded in 1992. Current membership about 470 brokers. Main goals : active participation in all legislative projects concerning insurance matters, integration of insurance professionals and creation of broker image (main event - Annual Convention of insurance brokers and companies), professional education, promotion of broker's profession, international activity (cooperation with BIPAR, WFII). Overview of current regulation Scope The new Act on insurance mediation limits the scope of regulation to brokers and agents only, leaving outside the regulation any other activity not related directly to conclusion of insurance contracts. Regulation Insurance legislation package (comprising of three acts) has been adopted by Polish Parliament on May 22nd, 2003, and signed by the President in June 2003. The package of three acts comprises: 1) Act on Insurance Activity; 2) Act on Mandatory Insurance, Insurance Guarantee Fund and Insurance Supervision; 3) Act on Insurance Mediation. Polish legislators were familiar with the IMD but chose to adopt a non-activity based approach to insurance mediation leaving the traditional division between brokers and agents as the foundation concepts contained in the Act on Insurance Mediation. All basic concepts contained in the IMD such as registration, mandatory liability insurance for brokers and independent agents (multiple agencies) and professional competency requirements have been adopted in the Polish law. Registration Insurance intermediaries are subject to mandatory registration in: - Register of insurance agents; - Register of insurance and reinsurance brokers; Register is a public document, accessible to all interested parties. Registers are kept and maintained by the Financial Supervision Commission (Komisja Nadzoru Finansowego - KNF (the Financial Market Supervision Act of July 21, 2006). Agents: at the request of an insurance company, if the person has, inter alia: full legal capacity; at least secondary-level education; completed a training course organised by the insurance company and passed a final examination; entered in the register and notifying the supervisory body may pursue insurance activities in another member of European Union; Brokers: by personal request if the person (or legal person) has, inter alia: possess full legal capacity; at least secondary-level education; at least three-year professional experience in the field of insurance; passed an examination by the Examination Commission for Insurance and Reinsurance Brokers, taken out professional indemnity insurance; entered in the register and notifying the supervisory body may pursue insurance activities in another member state of European Union; Qualifications Agents: The Minister of Finance specifies by Ordinance the minimum scope of training and binding topics of the examination; Brokers: The supervisory body defines what topics must be covered by the examination (the scope of topics is tracing BIPAR's "Minimum Levels of Professional Knowledge and Ability for the Insurance Intermediaries"); The new Act on Insurance Mediation requires all agents and brokers maintain current level of professional knowledge through the program of continuing education. Professional indemnity Insurance Law requires to maintain Professional Indemnity covers providing minimum IMD limits of liability ( € 1 ml / 1,5 ml). Code of conduct A Code of Professional Conduct (based on BIPAR's 1993 Code of Professional Conduct Minimum Requirements) was adopted in June, 1998. Legal provisions regarding foreign intermediaries IMD rules have been fully incorporated into the local Law. Brokers No of Brokers: 1180 licences (September 2004) 937 licences (September 2005) (implementation of IMD) 920 licences (September 2006) 883 licences (September 2007) 891 licences (September 2008) 922 licences (September 2009) No of brokers' employees: 3600 Market share: Non-Life market : 14,3% (2007 - 15%) Life Market: 1.6% (2007 - 3,5%) Agents No of Agents : about 40.000 (14.000 multiagents) (300 000 agents were registered prior to 1.01.2004) No of employees of agents : n.a. Market share : non-life market : n.a. Life market : n.a. * FINANCIAL MARKET SUPERVISION ACTThe Financial Market Supervision Act of 21 July 2006 aims at the integration of organs supervising the financial market institutions, such as the Securities and Exchange Commission, Insurance and Pension Funds Supervision Commission, and Bank Supervision Commission thorough the merger of the existing supervisory committees into one body.When the act comes into force (19 September 2006) the Financial Supervision Commission (Komisja Nadzoru Finansowego - KNF) becomes the organ authorised to supervise financial market . The supervision performed by the Commission includes banking supervision, pension scheme supervision, insurance supervision, capital market supervision, electronic money institutions' supervision and complementary supervision. |